Party paupers

I hope the menu below is an inspiring answer to people who tell me they're looking for menus free of wheat and dairy ingredients. It also sidesteps beef, tomatoes and alcohol.This salad is prepared with chargrilled aubergine, which has slightly smoky flavours. The lemon grass is bit of a twist to an otherwise typically Balkan salad.

All recipes serve four

Aubergine and lemon grass salad

2 medium aubergines

50g pine nuts

1 large shallot finely chopped

6 large garlic cloves, crushed

1 bunch coriander, chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Peel of 1 lemon

6 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

4 sticks of lemon grass

Put the aubergines on the flames of your barbecue or place straight on to the gas or electric ring of the hob. Cook until skin has blackened, turning regularly so they are evenly cooked. While still hot, place in a strong plastic bag and leave until cool. This way you will find them easier to peel.

When cool enough to handle, remove the outer skin, discard it and place the soft flesh in a bowl for when you are ready to assemble the salad. Peel the lemon grass until you have reached the soft, white centre and place in a food processor. Add the garlic, oil, the juice and peel of the lemon, and the shallot, and process until finely chopped and mixed together.

Chop the aubergines roughly and add the processed mixture. Season to taste. Serve sprinkled with coriander and pine nuts. Alongside, crusty bread.

Cost: £ 2.80

Calf's liver with golden sultanas and juniper berries

Calf's liver is always best prepared with fruity, slightly sweetish flavours to offset its richness. Some of us feel guilty about eating it but unless you are a vegetarian calf's liver is among the royalty of offal. The dish has delicate sweet and sour flavours and the plump golden sultanas add another dimension to the texture of the overall dish. Calf's liver is mild compared to lamb's or other livers but if you want you can use other liver.

4 slices of calf's liver, about 150g each

Small handful of best-quality golden sultanas

40 ml best-quality aged balsamic vinegar

4 juniper berries, crushed

30g butter

2 tbsp olive oil

Place the sultanas in a small bowl and pour on the vinegar. Leave at least an hour. In a heavy, non-stick frying pan, add the butter with the oil until just melted and foaming. Cook the liver for about two minutes on each side so it is slightly pink inside, or longer if you prefer it well done.

Remove the meat to a hot plate and immediately pour into the sizzling pan the sultanas, their soaking liquid, and the juniper berries. Stirring for two or three minutes will thicken this juice mixture which will begin to foam slightly. Pour the sauce over the liver; season to taste. Serve immediately with boiled new potatoes.

Cost: £ 11.10

Fresh berry pancakes (non gluten/wheat/dairy)

For this recipe, the baking powder you need - free of gluten/wheat and dairy elements - is found in health shops. I have used blueberries but you can adjust the flavour by using whatever is in season. You can also make one whole cake: in that case, increase the cooking time to 40-45 minutes.

120g ground almonds

240g fine ground polenta

2 tsp gluten/wheat/dairy-free baking powder

4 large eggs

200g caster sugar

2 large mangoes, stoned and the flesh mashed

1 tbsp lemon juice

100ml olive oil

200g fruit pulp (frozen mixed mashed berries are fine), drained

200g fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 180 C. Mix together in a large bowl the polenta, almonds and baking powder. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy, then add the lemon juice, oil, mangoes and fruit pulp and mix. Add the polenta to the almond mix and finally add the fresh berries. The mixture should be thickish and rather chunky. Use a muffin tray - oil each hole and line with baking paper. Pour in the mix, filling each hole to about two-thirds of the space. Place in hot oven for 25-30 minutes. The cakes are done if a wooden cocktail stick comes out clean when inserted into the centre. Makes 8-10 depending on pan size.

Now look here. It's all very well for Silvena providing such ingenious tailor-made recipes, but what about me? What about the wines to go with the dishes? The poor old wine waiter has to scurry around trying to cope on his pitiful budget.

I suppose for the first course, that aubergine salad, I can manage to lay my hand on the right bottle. It is Tesco's non-vintage South African White (14 points, £2.84), which has the requisite level of fruit, pear and citrus, to go with such spicy food (lemon grass and coriander are delicious but tricky components). Shall we say a single bottle for that first course? We shall (for the cost of wine and course are almost exactly the same).

The next dish requires more thought, for more depth in the wine is demanded, as is greater depth in your purse. It is not just calf's liver we are dealing with but it is marinated sultanas and juniper berries. Fantastic! And fatal to wine (unless it has real character). We shall stay in Tesco's aisles, and in the Cape, and pick the own-label, non-vintage South African Merlot Shiraz 2003 (14.5 points, £4.03) which offers gently spicy black cherry fruit with a slightly burned edge. It will cope with the spicing but not overwhelm the liver.

Two bottles for the four of you are necessary and this immediately throws up the protest that this means I have gone over my £10 budget by all of nine pence. I think, though, that we can pardon this sin with such a mould-breaking menu.

True, this leaves a sweet wine very much an optional extra and beyond, budgetwise, my remit. But since you are in Tesco and you may feel like splurging, I suggest Moscatel de Valencia (16 points, £3.12), which has silky honey fruit with a subtle undertone of marmalade. It will be perfect with that pud.